Karunakaran's rebel candidate defeated

Kodoth Govindan Nair, the Congress rebel candidate for the Rajya Sabha, was yesterday defeated in a trial of strength between veteran party leader K. Karunakaran on one side and Chief Minister A.K. Antony on the other, the latter backed by the party high command at the centre.

The two official candidates, Vayalar Ravi and Thennala Balakrishna Pillai, and opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate K. Chandran Pillai were elected.

In the 140-seat Kerala cabinet, Kodoth, who was fielded by Karunakaran bagged only 26 votes while Ravi and Thennala won 38 and 36 votes respectively and Chandran Pillai, 39 votes. One vote was found invalid.

The shattering blow to the Karunakaran camp comes as a climax to a series of dramatic events in Kerala, including Congress State unit President K. Muraleedharan's resignation and its subsequent withdrawal, suspension of Kodoth from the party and the LDF offer to come to the help of Karunakaran to accentuate the crisis.

All the MLAs, including Antony, Opposition Leader V. S. Achuthanandan and Ministers cast their votes before noon yesterday. The showdown became inevitable as two trouble shooters - Ghulam Nabi Azad and R.K. Dhavan - failed to persuade Karunakaran to withdraw his nominee.

If Ravi and Thennala had not won the election it would have been interpreted as the first signal of an end to the comfortable position the Congress has been enjoying ever since the 2001 Assembly elections.

The poll outcome shows unity among the UDF constituents. It appears that Kodoth did not get the four votes promised by the LDF. It also seems that hopes raised by UDF constituents Kerala Congress-Jacob, Kerala Congress-B and Revolutionary Socialist Party-B were also not translated into votes. The votes bagged by him seems to be only those of the group MLAs owing allegiance to Karunakaran.

If the rebel candidate had won, the future of Antony Government would have been in doubt. If Antony did not resign in such a scenario, he would have faced a vote of confidence in the House, with the LDF and the Karunakaran loyalists joining hands to defeat him.

Now that the official candidates are elected, the High Command is likely to take the Karunakaran faction to task. The high command could go the extent of expelling Karunakaran from the party.

The Antony camp has already suggested to Azad and Dhawan that Muraleedharan should be removed for his indifferent attitude towards the official candidates.

Reports also say that axe could fall on Kerala Tourism Development Corporation Chairperson and Karunakaran's daughter Padmaja Venugopal.

Tourism Minister K.V. Thomas, who appointed Padmaja as a gesture, returning the favours he had received from Karunakaran, left the group led by the former chief minister over the weekend.

It was not immediately known what steps Karunakaran would take. He left for the Guruvayoor temple for his monthly prayers soon after the polling was over.

It is speculated that his group might sit as a separate bloc in the House as the first step towards forming an individual identity and carry on the battle against a newly strengthened Antony.